wi  -  v  \  i  \  ■; 


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What  is  Back  of  It  All? 

“What  is  back  of  it  all?”  was  the 
question  of  a  guardsman  on  the  Mexi¬ 
can  border  the  other  day  as  he  saw 
the  prompt,  efficient  and  comprehen¬ 
sive  way  in  which  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association  had  risen  to  its 
opportunity  and  had  planted  a  chain 
of  forty  buildings  along  more  than 
one  thousand  miles  of  the  boundary, 
equipped  them  with  facilities  for  minis¬ 
tering  to  the  comfort  and  profit  of  the 
troops,  and  manned  the  enterprise  with 
one  hundred  and  fifty  capable  workers. 
The  same  question  arises  in  the  minds 
of  others  when  first  confronted  with 
this  Movement  which  is  manifesting  it¬ 
self  in  so  many  different  forms  and 
adaptations  in  its  service  for  men  and 
boys  the  world  over.  At  the  beginning 
of  a  new  year,  with  its  limitless  pos¬ 
sibilities  for  larger  and  better  things  in 
the  life  of  the  Associations,  it  is  well 
that  we,  its  members  and  friends,  make 
this  guardman’s  question  our  own.  As 
we  apply  and  press  the  question  with 


reference  to  the  past  and  the  present, 
may  it  not  reveal  the  secret  of  a  far 
richer,  more  productive,  and  more  help¬ 
ful  future? 

Why  have  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Associations  been  planted  in  nearly 
3,000  centers  in  North  America?  Why 
have  over  700,000  young  men  rallied 
to  their  membership?  What  has  made 
these  societies  a  principal  factor  in  in¬ 
fluencing  for  good  the  ideals  and  habits 
of  millions  of  the  youth  of  the  present 
and  the  preceding  generation?  Why 
has  the  Association  become  one  of  the 
recognized  educational  movements  of 
our  day?  Why  has  it  won  a  unique 
place  in  the  development  of  the  physi¬ 
cal  life  and  efficiency  of  boys,  young 
men,  and  women  of  middle  age? 

What  has  led  discerning  men  and 
women  of  means  to  invest  in  Associa¬ 
tion  buildings  and  building  funds  in 
North  America  alone  $100,000,000, 
and  why  have  these  sums  increased 
decade  by  decade  almost  at  a  geometri¬ 
cal  rate?  Why  have  the  rich,  and  those 
of  small  income  as  well,  come  to  the 
support  of  this  institution  with  increas¬ 
ing  sums  from  year  to  year  until  they 
now  supply  annually  for  current  ex¬ 
penses  over  $14,000,000?  What  ex- 

% 


plains  the  fact  that  railroad  companies 
and  industrial  corporations  have  de¬ 
voted  over  $6,000,000  from  their  regu¬ 
lar  funds  for  permanent  equipment  for 
these  Associations  at  work  among  their 
employes?  Why  do  the  workingmen 
themselves  give  to  the  same  cause  out 
of  all  proportion  to  their  relative 
ability  ? 

What  is  there  about  this  Movement 
which  has  attracted  more  than  125,000 
railway  men  into  its  ranks?  What  has 
attached  75,000  students  and  profes¬ 
sors  to  the  Association  and  made  this 
organization  the  great  fact  in  the  relig¬ 
ious  life  of  our  colleges  and  universi¬ 
ties?  What  has  made  the  Association 
such  a  power  among  negro  young  men 
in  the  shaping  of  character,  in  the  rais¬ 
ing  up  of  leaders  for  the  colored  people, 
and  in  promoting  right  race  relation¬ 
ships  that  one  of  the  most  eminent 
Hebrew  citizens  of  the  nation  has  de¬ 
voted  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
to  providing  buildings  for  negro  young 
men  in  connection  with  this  Christian 
institution  in  our  principal  cities? 
Why  have  the  War  and  Navy  Depart¬ 
ments  of  the  Government  and  the  mili¬ 
tary  and  naval  officers  of  our  forces 
given  every  facility  for  furthering  this 

3 


work  among  the  men  in  both  arms  of 
the  service? 

Why  have  the  leaders  of  virtually 
every  nation  now  at  war  welcomed  the 
cooperation  of  the  North  American 
Associations  on  behalf  of  the  tens  of 
millions  of  men  in  the  training  camps, 
in  the  reserve  camps,  in  the  trenches,  in 
the  hospitals  and  in  the  prisoner-of- 
war  camps  ?  What  led  the  mission¬ 
aries,  the  civilians,  and  the  government 
officials  throughout  the  non-Christian 
world  to  appeal  for  the  help  of  this 
particular  organization,  so  that  as  a 
result  it  has  within  less  than  a  genera¬ 
tion  been  transplanted  from  our  shores 
to  nineteen  countries  in  Asia,  Africa, 
and  Latin  America  ?  Why  in  the  path¬ 
way  of  the  work  of  the  Associations 
has  the  Christward  movement  among 
young  men  and  boys  increased  in  vol¬ 
ume?  Why  do  the  leaders  of  the 
churches  regard  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association  as  such  an  in¬ 
dispensable  servant  ?  Again  in  the 
words  of  the  guardsman,  “What  is 
back  of  it  all?” 

Back  of  this  wonderful  progress  and 
achievement  lies  the  deep  and  clear  con¬ 
viction  of  men  who  have  studied  the 

• 

facts  about  the  life  of  young  men,  that 

4 


the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
is  peculiarly  fitted  to  meet  their  needs 
and  to  develop,  conserve,  and  call  into 
helpful  action  their  powers. 

The  careful  thought  and  attention  of 
thousands  of  the  ablest  laymen  have 
been  devoted  through  the  various  local, 
state,  and  national  boards  and  commit¬ 
tees  to  the  supervision  of  these  Associa¬ 
tions.  No  organization  of  modern 
times  has  so  pooled  the  leading  and 
productive  brains  of  the  day  for  the 
study  of  its  problems  and  the  guidance 
of  its  affairs.  What  does  it  not  owe  to 
the  counsel  and  suggestion  of  men  of 
organizing  and  administrative  genius 
and  skill? 

The  Association,  as  its  name  implies 
and  as  its  history  shows,  is  a  product 
of  team  work  and  team  play.  Its  mem¬ 
bers  have  exemplified  a  rare  power 
to  cooperate.  The  Association  has 
blended  in  common  effort  the  most 
active,  progressive,  and  fraternal  men 
of  all  the  churches.  There  is  no  team 
work  like  that  of  a  group  or  a  body  of 
men  who  have  lost  themselves  in  some 
great  cause.  This  makes  possible  re¬ 
sults  in  the  influencing  of  a  community 
or  a  nation  which  would  be  absolutely 
impossible  were  these  men  to  confine 

5 


themselves  to  working  in  separate 
detachments. 

The  unselfish  use  of  money  has  been 
a  potent  factor  in  the  achievement  of 
the  Association  Movement.  What  is 
money?  It  is  stored  up  personality. 
Think  of  what  a  force  has  been  released 
and  put  to  work  through  the  many  mil¬ 
lions  devoted  to  this  object.  What  use 
of  money  could  be  more  productive 
than  that  of  relating  it  to  the  plans 
which  have  to  do  with  determining  the 
character,  activity,  and  destiny  of  the 
young  men  of  a  nation.  Can  we 'won¬ 
der  that  men  and  women  have  been 
willing  to  give  Association  buildings 
for  this  work  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
to  assume  the  support  of  secretaries 
to  plant  and  extend  the  Movement. 

“What  is  back  of  it  all?”  The 
visions,  the  enthusiasms,  the  spirit  of 
adventure,  the  readiness  to  attack  hard 
things  which  characterize  boyhood  and 
young  manhood.  Their  responsiveness 
to  high  duty,  their  invariable  willing¬ 
ness  to  undertake  large  projects,  and 
their  ability  to  rise  up  under  the  weight 
of  great  responsibility,  explain  why 
this  Movement  has  been  helped  rather 
than  hindered  by  its  chief  difficulties 
and  its  most  baffling  situations. 

6 


The  explanation  of  the  achieving 
power  of  the  Association  lies  further 
back  than  has  been  thus  far  indicated. 
Its  unselfish  motive  and  its  passion  for 
helpfulness  go  far  to  explain  the  won¬ 
derful  results.  President  Wilson,  in 
laying  the  corner  stone  of  the  Associa¬ 
tion  building  at  Atlantic  City,  empha¬ 
sized  this  principle,  “Nothing  is  more 
vital  to  this  country  than  the  associa¬ 
tion  of  men  together  in  things  that  are 
not  for  private  interests.  No  man  ever 
organized  a  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association  for  his  own  benefit.  No 
man  ever  expected,  if  he  were  a  true 
man,  to  make  a  spiritual  profit  out  of 
it.  Because  if  you  try  to  do  good  to 
other  men  for  your  own  sake,  you  don’t 
do  it  for  them.  The  only  thing  that 
can  vitalize  a  great  association  like  this 
is  for  men  to  forget  themselves  and  try 
to  serve  others.”  It  has  been  the  work¬ 
ing  of  this  vital  principle  which  ex¬ 
plains  the  great  creative  power  of  the 
men  who  have  most  influenced  the  char¬ 
acter  and  spirit  of  the  Movement. 

“What  is  back  of  it  all?”  The 
Christian  Church.  It  should  ever  be 
held  in  prominence  that  the  springs  of 
the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
are  in  the  churches. 

7 


Back,  back  of  all  stands  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ — the  Fountain  Head  of 
all  vital  or  life-giving  energy.  All  in 
the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
that  is  enduring,  all  that  is  truly  mul¬ 
tiplying,  all  that  has  had  or  still  has 
transforming  and  world-conquering 
power  is  traceable  to  Him.  Back  of 
the  vast  numbers  and  the  mighty  or¬ 
ganization,  back  of  the  money  power 
and  the  power  of  human  personality, 
back  of  gifts  of  leadership  of  commit¬ 
tees  and  secretaries,  back  of  the  strat¬ 
egy  and  the  statesmanship,  back  of  the 
wonderful  volume  of  human  devotion 
and  activity — in  its  true  relation  to  the 
Living  Christ  is  the  secret  of  all  that  is 
best  in  the  life  of  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association.  As  we  face  the 
coming  years,  we  do  well  to  remember 
that  He  is  the  same  yesterday,  today, 
and  forever.  In  proportion  to  the 
reality  and  intimacy  of  the  relation 
existing  between  the  leaders  and  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Associations  and  their 
Divine  Lord  will  be  the  productive 
power  and  spiritual  outreach  and  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  Association  Movement. 


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